Training and Marketing 2.0

2010: The Year of RESOLVE!

2010-01-04T16:09:00.002-05:00

Last year I wrote that I dropped the habit of writing New Year's Resolutions and instead, traded that habit for RESOLVE.

I mentioned that:
A resolution, as defined by Princeton, is a decision to do something or to behave in a certain manner.

Resolve on the other hand, is determination, will power, single-mindedness.

Let me define resolve this way: A determined focus.

That's what I had in 2009. A determined focus to achieve all I can, a determined focus to grow and experience growing pains, and a determined focus to try again when I fail.

Last year, RESOLVE pushed me to focus on my Training company (Training To Go) which led to unparalleled success, ending the year way beyond projections!

Now it's 2010. Resolutions are a thing of the past and I'm making 2010 The Year of RESOLVE, x2!

http://www.twitter.com/kevinmhuff
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinmhuff

Closing a Sale is a Natural Action!

2009-12-09T17:11:00.003-05:00

Sales is the natural conclusion to a normal conversation between people. Period. When we are selling ourselves, our products, our services...we are most successful having normal (natural) conversations with other people who have a need fulfilled by our: self, product, service, etc.

Sales done improperly results in an unnatural conclusion (this is what some would call a "closing technique") due to an abnormal conversation (you could think of this as a lopsided conversation) between people. And an unnatural conclusion is usually a "NO."

Selling can be easy if you a) be yourself, b) think about the customer instead of yourself, and c) don't lose sight of a&b as they are critical to your sales.

Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kevinmhuff

Change the Game in Corporate Training

2009-01-06T09:28:00.002-05:00

I want to change the game in training.

Over the past decade I have trained literally thousands of different people (approaching 10,000) and what I consistently hear shocks me. To the core. I've received hundreds and hundreds of comments just like these:

"I have never paid attention to a training class like I did yours - you made it so interesting."

"You are the best trainer I have ever had!"

"Truly amazing, I have no feedback for how you can improve."

"Normally, training class is something we all dread but we all were coming in early and staying after asking questions in your class."

"You are the Tiger Woods of Training!"

Forget the comments -- did you catch what I said prior? I said it shocks me to the core to hear comments like those. You'd think it would make me feel special, but I'm not that special...I'm just in an industry that as a whole needs a radical change.

It seems the general approach to training is apathy, not a good approach when the United States of America has fallen WAY behind in the workplace. Why do so many companies -- myriads of companies -- accept mediocrity from employees? I'm confident we can right the ship but it will take a complete do-over. It is time for instructors and learners alike to get on board with a new plan for corporate training.

Our first step: Stop rushing. Start over.

Forget everything we thought we knew and focus on only one thing -- the learner. It's not about the trainer. It's not even about the company! It is about the learner.

It's time we change the game in training -- we need to do it for the salesperson, the customer service rep, the managers and other leaders, in other words...the learner.

I plan to change the game by:
1 - focusing on Training 2.0 as a supplementary means of learning, in addition to and outside the traditional handcuffs of a classroom, a computer, 3-ring binders...
2 - making training REAL, abandoning simulations
3 - training in parallel with Sales efforts -- ALL YEAR LONG, EVERY YEAR
4 - sharing what I know about training and learning with Sales Managers, equipping THEM to drive the success of training
5 - showing ridiculous passion in my blog, podcasts, tweets ... and all other realms where I can impact Corporate Training.

It is time to Change the Game in Corporate Training! I'm starting my efforts on Twitter and this blog. Please join me in the conversation, then join me in the transformation!

http://www.twitter.com/kevinmhuff
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinmhuff
http://blogs.kevinmhuff.com

2009: No Resolutions, only Resolve!

2009-01-02T17:38:00.002-05:00

This year, I dropped the habit of writing New Year's Resolutions. Instead, I'm trading that habit for a new experience. This year, no more resolutions! Only...Resolve.

A resolution, as defined by Princeton, is a decision to do something or to behave in a certain manner.

Resolve on the other hand, is determination, will power, single-mindedness.

Let me define resolve this way: A determined focus.

A determined focus to achieve all I can in 2009.
A determined focus to grow and experience growing pains in 2009.
A determined focus to try again when I fail.

Make 2009 a year of Resolve, not just resolutions.

http://www.twitter.com/kevinmhuff
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinmhuff

Do NOT Be Tempted!

2008-10-30T19:27:00.002-04:00

Don't be tempted to skip the Training Needs Analysis. It's easy to claim we are busy or overworked or other. It is critical -- REQUIRED -- that a Training Needs Analysis must be conducted for all new training requests.

Too often (in my industry almost always) there is such a push for training salespeople when revenues are down, but executives don't believe there is any time to wait for proper planning and development to meet the need.

Let me assure you -- if you skip the Training Needs Analysis stage, your training will miss the mark and your training organization will rightly become an excuse for poor performance. There is no "winging it" with training.

As Julie Andrews said: start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to start. Let me rephrase that for our industry: start at the very beginning, with a Training Needs Analysis.

Abandon the Powerpoint

2008-10-29T08:41:00.001-04:00

This year (2008) my team and I have been measuring our training successes with and without the use of Powerpoint visuals.

We measured several key statistical areas: Content, Instructor, Environment, and an Overall category.

When foregoing the Powerpoint visual, our Content scores are up 18%, Instructor scores are up just over 20%, Environment scores are up 9%, and the Overall category scores are up 17%.

In each case, the instructor(s) remained the same for both versions of training. No matter the instructor, each time we measured results, the scores were higher in all categories! We attribute the improvements due to an increased connection between the instructor and the trainees.

If you have conducted similar research, please let me know. Until then, get back in touch with your students -- Abandon the Powerpoint!

How dumb are your sales reps?

2008-10-28T09:37:00.003-04:00

Wake up! Your sales reps are not dumb.

The question really is, "Why do so many sales execs treat them as if they are?"

Recently, I had the pleasure of working with some brilliant Fortune 50 salespeople in the Boston area. Almost to a person, they had this comment, "why are we being asked to sell the cool new cutting-edge services but are both: a) being paid better to sell the older services, and b) required to sell 80% of our quota on the older services before even making one penny on sales of the newer ones?"

Wow! Unfortunately, this disconnect exists in way too many sales organizations in our country. I see it with each organization I come in contact with and there is no excuse. Wall Street is kind for a day or less ... but will your company make the really tough decisions early enough to be around for that day?

Your sales reps will sell: a) what you pay them to, and b) what you tell them to -- so quit treating them as if they are dumb, they aren't. Set your incentives to drive the behaviors you want, then focus marketing and support efforts around THOSE behaviors.

Sell YOU

2008-10-17T12:46:00.003-04:00

What a great idea - BlitzTime.com !! This morning I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Executives in/around the Boston area, thru a great tool called BlitzTime. Our guest speaker covered the 3 C's of Social Marketing. She did a great job, but in her introduction, she mentioned hating salespeople. I thought, WHAT?? Aren't we all in sales???? The question is rhetorical, the answer is yes.

Two of my all-time favorites on "Selling YOU!" are:

You, Inc, by Harry Beckwith and Christine Clifford Beckwith, and
Selling for Dummies, by Tom Hopkins

We are always selling ourselves whether we know it...or not.

Recently I joined the Basho Community, what a great site providing poignant information directed to the sales professional. A blog covering CEO M. Jeffrey Hoffman's recent interview with SellingPower Magazine provided advice to the new sales manager. Hoffman is a sales sage and I appreciate what he's doing for our industry. I must, however, disagree in principle with the approach he recommends for new sales managers.

Instead, espouse the "Sell YOU!" mentality. Many sales managers find themselves in their managerial role due to a promotion received as a highly successful salesperson. Guess what - that doesn't mean they are qualified, YET.

Take ownership of your new role by focusing on your strengths, sell YOU to your new team, lift them up to your standards, and help ALL of them succeed.

"I'm in Marketing."

2008-09-02T23:11:00.002-04:00

People "in Marketing" aren't necessarily Marketers. In fact, most of the time people "in Marketing" don't seem to get Marketing, at all.

Several years ago when I worked for MCI, our meeting with our VP was in full swing when I realized the sadness of our situation. In the room, of all the VP's direct reports, only I had been in the field with actual salespeople and customers in, get this ... 3 years. No wonder we had meetings all the time to constantly REACT to what was happening around us. We didn't even know what being proactive meant.

Guess what ... this happens everywhere and it is self-evident when talking to salespeople as they are unequipped to do their jobs in large part due to the people "in Marketing" whose responsibility it is to determine the market approach.

Cross-over Training

2008-04-27T21:02:00.002-04:00

Creating Marketing and Training materials/collateral/etc. gives us an opportunity to brand, or stay within our brand... but that's a given. What about the opportunity to make our materials cross-over into the domains of both Marketing and Training?

As my team builds Training material for a large midwestern company, it occurs to me we could take the tone from our Training docs and mimic in our Marketing collateral.

Doing so creates a set of materials that are much easier to understand and eliminates the need to create a sales rep (internal) version and also a customer (external) version.

We're calling them "Solutions@Work" and they launch for my customer in May 2008. I'll let you know in a later blog if the Cross-over approach is as successful as I predict!

A Ring of Familiarity

2008-03-12T13:40:00.002-04:00

I love Seth Godin, especially his ability to re-market. Maybe that's not a word ... but it does a great job describing some of Godin's notable work. Let's look at his latest book, Meatball Sundae.

In a nutshell, Seth argues that our marketing efforts need to adapt on both sides of the Web 2.0 coin. If I sell a product (meatball), then trying to market it in new, cool , Web2.0 (sundae toppings) ways might be akin to creating a meatball sundae.

Sounds like putting lipstick on a pig. Seth takes a familiar concept from the past, re-markets it and sells a book. Now THAT is Marketing. Re-marketing, that is.

I'm NOT Sorry

2008-02-02T19:13:00.001-05:00

As I listen to "Future Trends in Training and Development" hosted by ASTD (American Society for Training and Development) and learn.com, I am instantly disengaged when the second speaker, the Chairman and CEO of McLagan International, starts her training segment by apologizing. She doesn't say, "I'm sorry" but says she'll get through her material as fast as possible so we can get to something else. I have no idea what she said next.

Stating the goal of "getting through the material fast..." is essentially apologizing for at least two things: your content and the length of the training. First and foremost, as the expert given X amount of time to deliver training, don't apologize for content nor length (short or long!) up front -- if even at all! If a speaker is sorry out of the gate, he certainly isn't grabbing my attention, but pushing it away. Secondly, as someone purportedly qualified to speak to ASTD members (trainers!!) the Chair and CEO of Mclagan Int'l should have known better.

As a speaker, trainer, and consultant, I am NOT sorry that I get to present to you; I'm NOT sorry you are in a position to learn from my presentation. Instead, I embrace the opportunity I have as a presenter, each and every time whether I am granted 2 minutes or 2 weeks.

"Blueberries are the first ingredient"

2007-11-15T14:21:00.002-05:00

At a recent stop at a coffee chain, I asked for the low-fat blueberry muffin. (I will probably be requesting low- or non-fat for awhile as I "have some extra baggage" as Myspace would put it.)

"Sorry, we don't have any of those. But we do have Blueberry muffins and blueberries are the first ingredient."

That sounded good enough to me so I ordered one.

When did the Marketing "gurus" decide that the term "first ingredient" could be used to trick us? I think we all know that the first ingredient listed on boxes and cans of food we buy, implies there is more of that ingredient than any other in the food.

Here's how I see this message being distorted: the coffee chain had an empty bowl, put blueberries in there FIRST, then had a story to spin......because blueberries certainly would NOT be listed first, second, third, and maybe not even fourth in the ingredient list for this particular muffin.

Caveat emptor.

Thanks, Seth.

2007-11-14T10:35:00.000-05:00

I was catching up on Seth's blog today when I noticed his reference to freerice.com. I admit I love that site and am faring well each time I visit. (Thanks to Kevin Mogee for pointing me there!)

Last week I was training a 5-day course for a large Telecommunications Company and pointed every student to freerice.com during a break. We estimated in 10 minutes time, we collectively contributed about 50-60 cups of rice to feed the hungry.

That story reflects how well I tied training to free rice. As a proponent of Web 2.0 (and Training 2.0) I should have realized what Seth so poignantly notes, "...notice how interaction leads to involvement which leads to learning and exploration. In that order."

Thanks, Seth. That will help as I continue to develop materials for the Training 2.0 world.

The 80/20 Rule, An Excuse for Poor Sales Performance

2007-11-13T14:44:00.001-05:00

There I was sitting at a conference table with VPs, Senior VPs, and other corporate notables, listening to their excuses for poor sales performance this past quarter. You know the excuses by heart because discussing them is a ritual that occurs monthly, quarterly, and annually.

Even though I hear it every month, the worst excuse for poor sales performance makes me laugh every time. "It's just the 80/20 rule."

What is? The reason for poor performance?? Really???

I just don't buy it and neither should you.

Side note about the 80/20 Rule: The 80/20 Rule, also called the Pareto Principle, is widely misunderstood and misapplied, thus it is also a pathetic, all too commonly used excuse for poor sales performance. Common understanding of the 80/20 Rule can be found in a simple definition: 80% of your results stem from 20% of your efforts. (Please note: the fact the numbers 80 and 20 add up to 100 mean nothing as the 80/20 Rule measures distinct elements: results and efforts.)

Proponents of applying the 80/20 Rule believe if you can determine which 20% of your efforts gain you 80% of your results, you can eliminate much (or all!) of the other 80% of your efforts and focus on what gives you the biggest bang for your buck. Furthermore, application of the 80/20 Rule doesn't imply "one and done." That is, after applying the 80/20 Rule, one might realize that they could re-apply the rule and be ridiculously more successful with only a fraction of the effort. And why not go for a 3rd derivative?

Your sales performance is poor because your are not keenly focused on your objectives (if you have them) and you are unaware of the real disposition of your sales channel. Stop blaming anything but the leadership in place and start cranking on a solution!

For more on the 80/20 Rule, including why it needs to be BROKEN, visit: breakthe8020rule.blogspot.com or breakthe8020rule.ne t.

Infinideas! Infinormation!

2007-11-13T13:19:00.000-05:00

Have you heard how much "information" is available to us today? It's ridiculously more than ever before. Along with that comment, have you also heard how the whole of information content is growing exponentially?

This is an unstoppable pattern as more information generates more ideas which beget more information and of course, more ideas. I believe we've reached a point where infinideas (ideas to infinity) are generating infinormation (an infinity of information) and we'll soon find our selves incapable of two things:

1. Keeping track of how much real "information" actually exists, and
2. Knowing what the heck to do with it all!

As information grows rampantly, the population of this world will be easily outpaced by information growth and we will thus reach a saturation point where additional information (ad nauseum) above and beyond what we can tame, will not be absorbed by humans.

Welcome to the age of infinormation and infinideas!

iPersona non grata...

2007-11-02T23:28:00.001-04:00

I hope you've googled yourself lately. Finding yourself on a search engine is not so much for notoriety anymore, it's critical for your resume. I didn't realize that until I read a recent article published by upladder.com. The title of the article was "The Six P's of Online Branding" by Kirsten Dixson and William Arruda. Solid article that reminded me, "you will be Googled in your job search."

So tonight, I once again Googled myself.

This is nothing new but my problem is I have been searching for Kevin Huff. Turns out I'm a stud collegiate quarterback, Cosmetic Dentist, and actor in the recent Hollywood release, "Dan in Real Life." There are too many Kevin Huffs out there and I don't appear on the first page of results.

Then it hit me - I'm not Kevin Huff on the web because in blogs, my websites, and social networking sites, I've been kevinmhuff for a long time. It's my online persona (consider it my iPersona.) So I changed my Google search to kevinmhuff and Voila! my iPersona, kevinmhuff, is on EVERY link on the first page.

I soon realized if I use both Kevin Huff and kevinmhuff independently, I water down my iPersona and thus my marketability. It is very important to have one iPersona, unless you have the first name notoriety of, say, Seth Godin.

Think about your iPersona. If you aren't on the top one or two pages of your favorite search engine, you might as well not be on there at all. The good news is, we can quickly catch up by finding or creating our iPersona.

Go on, google yourself!